Saturday, July 08, 2006

Florida in cross hairs of US hunt for oil

Less than 50 miles from Key West, below the waters of the North Cuban Basin, are potentially billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas.

It's an opportunity Cuba can't pass up. So late last year, Fidel Castro's government started contracting out 59 lots in Cuban waters for exploratory drilling.

That, in turn, has tapped into a gusher of controversy in the United States - especially since in nearby American waters, the federal government maintains a moratorium on any oil drilling.

China, Canada, Spain, and India are among the countries that have snapped up Cuba's lots, while the US oil industry has stood by unhappily, abiding by America's decades-old trade embargo with the communist nation. This comes on top of the industry's frustration with the US offshore drilling moratorium - though legislation passed by the House last week is a controversial first step toward lifting the ban.

"As a matter of general principle, I believe that there can be no doubt that criticism in time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government. . . Too many people desire to suppress criticism simply because they think it will give some comfort to the enemy to know that there is such criticism. If that comfort makes the enemy feel better for a few moments, they are welcome to it as far as I am concerned, because the maintenance of the right of criticism in the long run will do the country maintaining it a great deal more good than it will do the enemy, and it will prevent mistakes which might otherwise occur."
-Robert A. Taft, Republican Senator from Ohio, Dec. 19, 1941

"Secrecy and a free, democratic government don't mix."
-Harry S. Truman, US President

"A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it."
-George W. Bush, Business Week, July 30, 2001